Deaf services firm in Rockville is target of probe

Company mum on investigators' visit

The Rockville headquarters of Viable Inc., which provides video interpreting services for hearing-impaired people, was visited by federal investigators recently, and the company is "cooperating fully" with investigators, a Viable spokesman said.

Glenn Lockhart said in an e-mail that federal investigators visited the company's headquarters in June. He referred specific questions to company attorney Timothy Sullivan, who did not return calls seeking comment on the reason for the investigation.

Sullivan is a partner in the Greenbelt law firm Brennan Sullivan and McKenna. Sullivan's areas of practice include white-collar crimes, federal trials, ethics and professional responsibility.

"Regardless, our service has remained 24/7 without downtime," Lockhart said. "We are still providing top-notch video relay services to deaf and hard of hearing individuals who rely on our technologies for their telephone calls to family, businesses and everyone else important in their lives."

Vickie LeDuc, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Baltimore, said last week she was reviewing whether anyone in her office was involved in the investigation and "will respond as soon as we can."

Viable's offerings include videoconferencing hardware and software, and video-based and on-site interpreting services.

The business has grown from a handful of employees in 2005 to more than 240 employees, with most workers hearing-impaired. It has numerous call centers in Maryland and other states.